What would you do, first time investor from NY?

[Angel R.]

Hi, guys, I'm from NYC (Brooklyn). I know the NYC market is very expensive for newbies like myself and I feel like I may have to look outside of the city to get started.

I currently make $42k year and have 32k in savings for my first property. My dream is to get a duplex in NY to house hack/ rent out, but I understand this may not be possible due to my income, I have someone that can co-sign for me but their income is only 30k a year that wouldn’t be enough for NY prices, a house owner told me you need at least a 100k income to invest in Brooklyn. Most Duplexes are 800k in Brooklyn. Anyways, I’m not complaining! I’m eager to start investing. I’m tired of saving with so little returns! I wanna invest now that interest rates are low…

I’ve considered buying in Paterson, New Jersey, but I hear taxes there are more expensive than NY, so this leads to my other choice Hazleton, PA. This is a small town in Pennsylvania, 3 hours away from NYC and 2 hours away from Philadelphia, approx. 25,000 residents, the has population has decreased at -0.289% annually. Would you guys buy a cash flow positive property in a market where you haven’t seen big capital gains in the last 30 years?

* My sister lives there and is house hacking a duplex, she’s makes over $500 in profit every month.

Home prices in Hazleton (duplex)
Are around 250k
A Co-op in NY for a two-bedroom apartment is around 280k


Any ideas or feedback would be appreciated. I like that the duplex will give me cashflow. I always look at the larger area that feeds “smaller” towns, too. If I’m able to cashflow & keep the units rented than I think that works. But I’m also afraid because New York is New York.. the appreciation for some homes here is crazy I have a friend that bought a house for 500k in 2012 and he sold it last year for 700k you don’t see that kind of capital gains in Pennsylvania.

I would greatly appreciate you guys opinion, I apologize for the long text I wanted to give as much context as possible.

Thanks in advance,